


Once

by sadyshea



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fairy Tales, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-27
Updated: 2013-05-27
Packaged: 2017-12-13 04:53:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/820192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadyshea/pseuds/sadyshea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Harry has too much hair for his own good and loves to huff and puff on cigarettes, Liam has an undeniable affinity for water, Niall can’t quite seem to ever keep himself awake but thankfully his barista, Zayn, is always there to give him a magical cup of coffee to revive him. And just because Louis wears a red hoodie every day, doesn’t mean he wants you to comment on it.</p><p>It’s your typical Highschool AU with a bit of a grimm twist on it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once

Niall wasn’t quite narcoleptic but he could damn well fall asleep just about anywhere if you left him alone for more than three minutes. The part of this that made it even more troublesome was that Louis, his best friend, had little patience for his friend’s ‘problem’ and tended to either leave the blond behind or wake him up violently, usually by yelling.

It was one of the rare morning where Louis decided to give Niall a gentle awakening as his blond friend had passed out on his shoulder while they waited for their bus before school.

“You want to grab some coffee before school, Nialler?” Louis wondered, willing to do anything to avoid taking the direct route to school.

“I don’t know, Lou…” Niall responded groggily. “We don’t want to be late.”

“Yes, yes we do.” Louis objected, pulling Niall up to his feet, mid-yawn. “You look exhausted. Don’t try to fight this. It’s already happening.”

Niall, seeing that trying to object would only waste more of the energy he didn’t have, gave into Louis’s determined lead toward a coffee shop they’d never frequented before.

The bell chimed as they walked through the front door and Louis instructed, “You take a chair. I’ll get our drinks.”

Niall obligingly collapse into one of the comfy armchairs by the front door as Louis walked up to the counter.

“Two double shot espressos and the biggest black coffee you have to go please.” Louis ordered to the raven-haired barista before him.

He recognized the guy faintly, probably from school, but not enough to know his name.

“Is your friend okay?” The barista responding, looking past Louis to Niall who, of course, had already passed out in the chair.

Louis rolled his eyes at Niall before turning back to, upon inspecting the barista’s nametag, Zayn. “He’s fine, Zayn, he just gets a little tired sometimes, more than his little body can handle.”

“Does he stay up all night?” Zayn wondered before realizing he was asking a few too many questions about his customers’ wellbeing considering they didn’t even know them.

But, Louis was completely unperturbed about the questioning, seeing as it only meant he could be even later for school.

“I don’t know… I think he might have insomnia or something.” Louis shrugged,

“And you just ordered him a two double shot espressos?” Zayn wondered incredulously and Louis really didn’t what the big deal was. “Look, why don’t make we make it two large black coffees and I’ll send some tea with you for you friend?”

“Tea?” Louis repeated, his eyebrows furrowing as the barista changed his order.

“For the insomnia.” Zayn explained, passing Louis a few packets of the ‘sleepy time’ tea. “It has chamomile which helps with sleep.”

“Oh, uh, cool.” Louis answered, surprised by the forwardness of the barista. “How much for the tea?”

Zayn started to pour the black coffees, “It’s on me. Don’t worry about it.”

Louis was baffled by Zayn’s generosity. He put down the money for the coffees, making sure to leave extra change for a tip for Zayn and his kindness.

Zayn returned with the two coffees, noticing the cash that was on the counter and how much more than what the total would be.

“Um… let me just get you some change…” Zayn murmured, pushing the button so that the till popped open.

“Keep it.” Louis objected before eyeing one of the pastries in the glass holder, “But maybe I’ll grab a chocolate croissant for the road as well.”

Zayn beamed, moving over to grab the croissant before handing it to Louis, along with a tray for the two coffees, “There you are and you’ll even make the next bus.”

Louis groaned, “Perfect.”

“Don’t like school?” Zayn wondered, amused by Louis’s reaction.

“I’ll do anything to avoid it, not going to lie.” Louis responded, still sullen. “Speaking of, aren’t you supposed to be at school too?”

“I only have half days.” Zayn explained, a bit sheepishly. “I’ve got enough credits to graduate already but I’m taking the classes just so I can have graduate at the normal time.”

“Whoa, cool.” Louis murmured, enamored by the idea of only going to school for half the normal time. “Wish I could do that but considering I’m failing most of my classes…”

Niall stirred a little when he heard the bell above the door chime, realizing he’d fallen asleep in the armchair and chastised himself for doing so. Louis was at the coffee bar, talking to the barista when Niall groggily got to his feet.

As he did, a guy breezed past him; no doubt the person who’d caused him to wake up. His hair was wet and Niall wondered how that could be when the weather was as dry as it was.

Niall watched, still in a post-nap trance, as the guy made his way up to the counter.

“Oh, hey, Liam.” Zayn greeted his best friend as he walked up next to Louis, fresh out of swim practice to pick up his morning coffee. “You okay, mate?”

“Coach pulled me off starter for the relay.” Liam grumbled disappointedly, letting his elbow fall down on the counter to cradle his head.

“Sorry, Li.” Zayn shared sympathetically.

Louis quickly realized he was interrupting a morning routine so he picked up his order and said, “Thank you for everything, Zayn. I’ll think you might be seeing us again tomorrow.”

Zayn chuckled, “More regulars! I love it! See you then.”

Louis turned to see Niall staring at him blankly, clearly having zoned out while on his two feet. Louis approached his friend and passed him a coffee.

“Wakey, wakey, Nialler.” He murmured before the blond snapped back into attention.

“S-sorry.” Niall responded before taking the coffee in his hands as they made their way out of the coffee shop.

“I have some tea for you to try, care of the best barista in the world.” Louis explained, handing his friend the packets from Zayn.

Before Niall could even look to see the barista through the glass, the bus pulled up to the stop.

The pair of them rushed toward it, flashing the bus driver their passes before taking their seats at the back.

Just as the bus driver was about to pull away from the curb, a shadow stepped in front, causing the bus to come to an abrupt lurch.

“Shit…” The bus driver exclaimed.

Niall had never been more awake, clutching onto Louis for dear life as Louis tried to see who had been the cause of the close call.

There was a knock on the bus doors and probably purely out of shock and habit; the bus driver opened the doors.

Up walked a tall bloke with a mop of brown hair in all black, a cigarette dangling from his lips.

Louis’s breath hitched as the stranger breezed past the bus driver without even paying the fare. Nobody could even object, the entire population of the bus had gone silent as the guy took a seat only two rows in front of Louis and Niall.

“Am I dreaming?” Niall whispered and Louis nodded ‘no’ slowly.

The guy lit his cigarette and it was as if the word stopped.

Louis was entranced briefly before the illusion instilled by the guy’s dramatic entrance was shattered by the stench of smoke.

That’s when Louis got mad. He wasn’t one to just tolerate people being assholes for no reason and he wasn’t about to let this asshole get away with it.

He leaned forward, much to Niall’s horror and snapped, “You can’t smoke that in here.”

The guy looked up at Louis with amused emerald eyes, causing Louis’s breath to hitch with apprehension and surprise. The stranger’s hair swept over most of his face but somehow his eyes shone through the mess.

Just when Louis thought that he had actually won, the stranger replied, “Do I look like I give a fuck?”

And with that, Louis took his seat, unable to say another word as his mother’s words wrung in his head:

“Stay on the path, Louis. The path is safe. The darkness is not.”


End file.
